Folklorist Margaret Bennett attributes her interest in traditional culture to her upbringing in Skye, Lewis and Shetland, with Gaelic and Scots storytellers, singers and musicians.  As a student in Glasgow during the burgeoning Folk-scene of the Sixties, she was inspired to study Folklore in Newfoundland where she recorded tradition-bearers whose people left Scotland in the 1830s.  In 1975 she moved to Quebec as Folklorist with The Museum of Civilization’s Quebec-Hebridean Project, (awarded Le Prix du Québec for research and conservation of culture). She returned to Scotland with her son Martyn, who later incorporated Folklore in his music, and from 1984-96 she lectured at Edinburgh’s School of Scottish Studies.

Bennett's many books and articles cover a wide range of topics – besides her seminal work, Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave, she writes about local history, stories, songs, food-lore, traditional medicine, wartime memories, engineering, coal-mining, brick-making, textile-production, fishing, farming, crofting, rural skills, and, importantly, the folklore of children:  'Childhood is where it all begins.'

Said to 'wear her scholarship lightly', Margaret is the recipient of many awards, including The Michaelis Ratcliffe Prize for Folklore; Canadian Historical Association/Société historique du Canada: Cleo Award for History; Celtic Women International Award (Toronto); Le Prix du Québec (Government of Quebec Office, London);  Duais Comunn Gàidhlig Lunnainn  (The Gaelic Society of London Prize) for outstanding contribution to Gaelic language and culture; The Saltire Society Award for excellence in contributing to the understanding of Highland culture;  The Saltire Society’s Outstanding Scottish Women Award (2019);  The American Folklore Society Opie Prize for a book on children’s Folklore (2022);  and on International Women’s Day 2023 one of 15 women recognised for contribution to traditional Scottish culture. 

Inducted into the Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2014 in recognition of her performances across the performing arts, Margaret is also known for collaborations with her son, Martyn Bennett (1971–2005).  Commenting on her lifelong dedication to Scotland's traditional culture, the late Hamish Henderson wrote: “There can be few scholars on either side of the Atlantic who succeed in combining such a wide range of skills as Margaret Bennett.  A folksinger of great sensitivity and versatility, she is undoubtedly one of the major figures of the modern Scottish Revival... Margaret embodies all that is best of the spirit of Scotland.”